Trouble on the High Seas
by Mark C
Summary: To have some time to themselves and from superheroing, Peter and Mary Jane go on a cruise. Unfortunately, things don’t go as planned.
1. Welcome Aboard

**Disclaimer:** Most characters within belong to Marvel Comics except for the crew and passengers of the cruise ship, they were created by myself.

**Summary:** To have some time to themselves and away from superheroing, Peter and Mary Jane go on a cruise. Unfortunately, things don't go as planned.

**AN:** As always, I would like to thank **htbthomas** for betaing this fic. Also, this story takes place before the events of Civil War.

* * *

**Trouble on the High Seas**

_**Welcome Aboard**_

_Southern Florida_

"This sure beats the weather back home, doesn't it, Tiger?" Mary Jane asked her husband as they drove to the docks.

"The warm sunny weather of Florida versus the cold, snowiness of New York…? there's no comparison," answered Peter as he gazed out the cab window watching the palm trees as they passed by. "Plus, it was nice to see Dr. Connors for a little bit."

"I think our visit with him and Billy was a good one."

Peter just nodded his head. Dr. Curt Connors and his son Billy had welcomed their visit. The last time they had seen each other was under different circumstances. When Martha, Curt's wife, had passed away from cancer they along with Aunt May made the trip down for the funeral. But since that time, they were in regular contact with each other. The good doctor made it up to New York for an occasional lecture and that's when he would be able to get together with Peter and Mary Jane.

Peter would have liked to have stayed with the Connors' for a bit longer but there was another reason why he and Mary Jane had made the trek to Florida.

"You got the tickets, MJ?" Peter asked.

Mary Jane dug through her bag and seconds later pulled them out. "Yep, they're right here."

"Good, because I would've hated for us to get there and not have those tickets."

They continued the rest of the ride in silence, both looking at the Floridian scenery. It wasn't much longer when they arrived at their final destination, on land at least.

"Here we are folks. That'll be 15.85," the cabby told his passengers as he brought the cab to a stop.

Peter took out his wallet and gave the cabby the required fare along with a tip.

"Thank you, sir, would you like some help with your bags?"

"Sure, with all the things my wife packed, I could use the extra hands." As a result of that comment, MJ swatted her husband in the stomach.

There wasn't a lot of luggage despite Peter's comment but with him having the proportionate strength of a spider, he could handle it.

"Do you think your husband can manage that? If not, you can always call for a porter for assistance," the cabby helpfully informed Mary Jane.

"Oh, he can manage perfectly on his own," Mary Jane answered.

"Yeah, I'll be all right," chimed in Peter.

"Okay, I hope you two enjoy your cruise," the cabby told them as he re-entered his cab and then went on his way.

With luggage in tow, they went over to where they could board the ship. Before getting in line, Peter and Mary Jane took a good look at the ship that they would be traveling on.

"This will definitely be some trip, MJ," Peter said, still taking in the view of the cruise ship.

"I know," Mary Jane answered. "I still can't believe how lucky we were that we got these tickets."

"No, it was your luck that we scored this nice cruise because we both know how _my_ luck is. Besides, you were the one that entered that draw."

"Okay, that's true but I never expected to win. Plus, we need to thank Tony for providing us with the transportation to get down here and for convincing you that it was all right for you to have some time away from the Avengers."

"That's probably the first thing I'll do when we get back. So, what are we waiting for, sweetheart?"

Giving a nod to her husband, Mary Jane and Peter made their way up to the cruise ship's main deck to check in.

"Check out the name of the ship, MJ," Peter told her as he pointed to one of the smoke stacks of the ship with the name emblazoned on the side.

Mary Jane took a glance and smiled. "_Caribbean Princess_, not a bad name."

"Ah, the sun and fun of a Caribbean cruise. You just gotta love it."

"I know I will."

After taking a brief look around the ship, the pair headed towards what could be considered the lobby of the ship. This part of the ship was spacious and appeared to have all the amenities that a five-star hotel would have and was just as busy as one.

Finding the registration desk to check in, Peter and Mary Jane waded through the sea of people to register. Once they got over to the desk, they patiently waited in line.

It wasn't long until they were greeted at the registration desk. "Welcome aboard the _Caribbean Princess_, how may I help you?"

"Parker, party of two," Peter told the registration attendant with Mary Jane right by his side.

"Just one moment, sir," the attendant said as she typed away on her computer looking for the name 'Parker'. "Can I have your first name, please?"

"It's Peter and I'm with my wife Mary Jane if that will help."

"Thank you, Mr. Parker." With Peter's name, the attendant continued to scan the passenger list. "Ah, here it is. Mr. Parker, you and your wife will be in room 319 on the third passenger deck. Just take the elevator that's off to the right here, go down to the third level and your room shouldn't be too far from there."

"Thank you," Mary Jane said to her as she looked at the attendant's name tag, "Cindy."

"You're very welcome and I hope you enjoy your cruise," Cindy added cheerily.

"We will and thanks again," Peter stated as he and Mary Jane picked up their bags and headed toward the elevator that Cindy told them to use.

As they ventured over to the elevator, Mary Jane was bumped by a fellow passenger, who didn't seem to notice what had happened.

"Well, excuse me," Mary Jane said sarcastically as she turned around to see who bumped her.

Peter looked in that direction as well, but for an entirely different reason. With a puzzling look on his face, he turned back to his wife.

Mary Jane noticed the look on his face. "Is something wrong, Peter?"

"I'm not sure, MJ. For a minute there I felt my spider-sense go off. Maybe it was just to warn me not to get bumped by that guy. Are you okay?"

"Yeah, let's just go to our cabin and unpack."

Taking Peter's hand, Mary Jane led him over to the elevators. On their way to them, Peter kept looking back to where that stranger had gone and wondered about why his spider-sense went off.

* * *

The man that had bumped into Mary Jane continued on his way to a group of gentlemen in the opposite direction to where the Parkers were heading.

"You boys got everything taken care of?"

"Everything is in place but nothing has been set in motion," the group spokesman answered.

"Good, because nothing happens around here without my say so. Got it?"

"Yes, sir," was their reply.

"You also have your cabin numbers?"

They each, in turn, told the man where they would be staying. He learned from them that there would be two of his men on each of the key decks. Of course, it helped that he had all this planned several months ago.

"All right, just go to your rooms. I'll let you know when we'll set things in motion." The men departed for their cabins.

It wasn't long until the man who instructed the men in the ship's lobby arrived, with baggage in hand to his cabin.

"This should definitely be an interesting voyage," he said as he began to unpack.

Most of the items in the suitcase were typical for an ocean cruise – shorts, some short sleeved shirts and some sunscreen – but what lay below was not. The last loud Hawaiian shirt was removed to reveal a well padded brown and yellow suit.

* * *

**AN:** Please leave a review because I would like to know what you think. Constructive criticism is fine but no flames.


	2. Bon Voyage

_**Chapter 2 – Bon Voyage**_

With an insertion of the key and a twist of the door knob, they entered their cabin. "Wow," Peter commented. MJ simply nodded in agreement. They placed their luggage down and began to explore their room.

Their cabin was about the size of room they had back at Avengers Tower, possibly a bit bigger. The queen-sized bed was off to the left as you entered through what could be considered an alcove which also held a washroom.

A closet was to the right of the bed with plenty of room to place clothing. On the other side of the bed was a beautiful oak dresser. In the far corner of the cabin was a desk with a laptop computer and printer.

"I didn't think there would be a computer in our room." Peter was also impressed with the mini-bar – it had all the amenities of one you might find in a hotel.

"Not only that, but we have internet access as well," Mary Jane said as she began to unpack. "It said so in the brochure."

"Brochure?"

Mary Jane handed Peter the brochure while he sat down on the edge of the bed. "You see, it shows you what your cabin will be like and some of the things we can do onboard while we travel to the Bahamas."

"Ah. You know, MJ, I thought there would be more people about Aunt May's age on this cruise. But when we were in the lobby, I noticed a good share of the passengers were around our age."

"Well," Mary Jane pointed to the cover of the brochure. "This cruise is for people between the ages of twenty and thirty-five. There are all-ages cruises but I think this one was a promotional one."

"I see. What else is there that we can do while on the ship?"

"It's pretty much like a hotel in the water. There's a pool, gym, a few shops and some scheduled events. Speaking of which, there's a costume party in a couple of days that I would love for us to attend."

"Sounds like fun, MJ. Is there a place you can get a costume on board?"

"I would assume so… but I wouldn't worry about that."

"And why is that, my dear?"

Mary Jane grinned playfully. "Because, Tiger, I already have a costume. I took a good look at the brochure, found out about the party and knew it was something that we would both enjoy."

"You're right, sweetheart, I think we would enjoy it. Plus, I have the _perfect_ costume," Peter told his wife, giving her a wink.

"I bet you do," she answered knowing full well what Peter was talking about. "In case you were wondering about what I would wear, you'll just have to wait until the night of the party. I want to surprise you."

"Aw, MJ…" Peter whined. He gave Mary Jane puppy dog eyes to try and coax it out of her.

"No way are you getting it out of me, mister."

Before Peter could respond, the ship's horn blew.

"It sounds like we're about to leave. Do you want to go up to the main deck and watch the ship set sail?" Mary Jane asked, trying to get Peter's mind of her costume choice.

"Might as well," Peter replied.

"Don't be a spoilsport, Peter."

Mary Jane grabbed him by the hand and pulled him up from the bed.

* * *

When Peter and Mary Jane arrived on deck, they saw several of the ship's passengers there as well waving to people on the dock and throwing confetti.

"You know, MJ, this reminds me of an episode of the _Love Boat_," Peter mentioned as he too joined in waving at the well-wishers.

Mary Jane thought about that for a moment and agreed with him, "You're right. Who would have thought that we'd be doing something like this for real."

"This cruise wouldn't be the same without you, sweetheart." Peter wrapped an arm around her and hugged Mary Jane close to himself.

"Ditto, handsome." Mary Jane planted a kiss on Peter's cheek for the compliment.

"Aw, shucks. So, what do you want to do once we're on the open seas?"

"Hmmm, let me think for a sec… Maybe spend some alone time with my superhero husband," Mary Jane told him but whispered the last part so only they could hear.

"You have anything in mind?"

"Well…"

* * *

The same group of men that was in the ship's lobby had gathered again on the far end of main deck just to see what all the hoopla was about. As they watched the throng of people, they were able to gather together, drawing little suspicion.

"You guys all settled in now?"

The other men in the group answered the boss by either a nod of their head or a simple, "Yeah."

"Good, meet me in the bar in ten minutes so that we can discuss our agenda for tomorrow. Also, I would like the parts that each of you was given to smuggle on board. You did get them through security, didn't you?"

"Yes, sir," they answered.

"Good. Ten minutes… and don't keep me waiting."

* * *

A freshly-ordered scotch in front of him, the man in charge waited in an out of the way booth. His pieces of equipment might have been tricky to bring on board but with his years of experience, he was able to easily circumvent the ship's security measures.

_I hope those parts they brought are in one piece_, he thought as he sipped his drink.

He had already ordered another scotch when a couple of his men started to trickle into the bar. Since the men knew how their boss operated, they found him with no trouble. Soon after, the others arrived and took whatever seating was available.

Their leader took a look at his watch – exactly ten minutes had passed.

"Good work, gentlemen. I like it when my men follow orders because if they don't… Let's just say that they don't _ever_ do it again." He gave each of them a stern look. "With that being said, relax and order yourselves a drink."

After placing their orders, he told his men to slip them the parts that he told them to bring but in the order they received the drinks in order to avoid suspicion. So, when part of the drink order arrived at the table and the waitress went back to the bartender to get the rest, the men with their drinks slipped the parts to their leader. Once the final set of drinks arrived, the rest of the men handed over their pieces.

"What are these for, boss?" one of the men queried, sipping his bourbon.

"You'll see when the time is right. Once you guys are done, just go about your business and I'll contact you when the next stage in my plan needs attending to." He secured the parts in a case that he simply concealed with his jacket.

Once his minions were gone, he finished his drink and left. Back in his cabin, he placed the parts on a worktable that he had set up and then rolled out a set of tools. With his mechanical skill it took little time to put the devices together. Now that his devices were together, it was time to test them to make sure they worked properly. He set up a couple of glasses on his worktable. Setting his gauntlets on a low setting, he fired both of them. A vibrational wave was sent towards the glasses, shattering them with ease.

"Now the Shocker is in business," the man also known as Herman Schultz said with a slight smirk.

* * *

**AN:** I encourage everyone who reads this fic to leave a review to let me know what you think of it. Constructive criticism is fine but no flames please.


	3. Just Cruisin'

_Just Cruisin'_

The first night on board was an enjoyable one, especially for Peter. There was no reason for him to don his Spider-Man costume to go out on patrol around a neighborhood and bust up some kind of smuggling ring… or go out on a mission with his fellow Avengers. But he did miss something that he enjoyed doing, web swinging. Something about swinging several stories above the ground with the wind brushing past you was exhilarating to him. Even though he had his costume with him, Peter doubted he could do any web swinging while on the ship.

Mary Jane was also enjoying it as well because this was the first time in a good long time that she and Peter got to spend a significant amount of time with each other. So far she was having a great time despite the cruise being only a day old. Their dinner the previous night and breakfast that morning had been wonderful. Now they were poolside soaking up the sun.

"This is fantastic." Mary Jane lay on a towel-covered lounge chair in her navy blue one-piece swimsuit.

"I know what you mean, MJ," Peter replied as he sat next to her while in a baggy pair of crimson trunks. "By the way, what is on the agenda this afternoon?"

"Well, there's lunch and shuffleboard."

"Ha ha, very funny, Mary Jane. I'm not quite over the hill yet."

"I know that, sweetie, I was just kidding. Any way, besides the usual swimming or using the ship's gym, the cruise has a few things planned for their passengers to enjoy. But for the life of me, I can't remember what they are."

They both laughed at that.

Peter asked once he finished laughing, "And why is that?"

"I believe spending some much needed quality time with my husband has affected my memory," answered Mary Jane with a playful grin.

Peter then got off his lounger and planted a kiss on his wife's lips.

"So do you wanna grab some lunch and then figure out what to do next?"

"Sure," replied Mary Jane as she and Peter gathered their things to head to the dining area.

* * *

Now that his vibro-shock devices were assembled and functional, Shocker was now ready to implement his plan. This was a gutsy scheme, even for him but if he got what he wanted out of this, Shocker would be set for life, as would his men. So far, everything had worked out perfectly. All that was left to do was to check out all the bombs that were located throughout the ship, arm them and to finally make their demands.

The planning for this operation was very well thought out. Executing it to the desired outcome was a whole other matter.

_I'm freakin' glad that we aren't doing something of this magnitude in New York_, thought Shocker as he looked over the blueprints of the cruise ship.

There were areas on the diagram marked with an 'X' which were the locations of the bombs. Today's task was for him and his men to arm all of them. Once armed, Shocker's handheld detonator would light up for each particular bomb. This particular device would allow him to either set the bombs off one at a time or detonate them all at once. The preference was the former but if there was a need, he would blow the entire ship up. Satisfied with how things looked on the blueprint, he put it away and began to contact his cohorts.

In minutes, they all had gathered in Shocker's cabin. He thought it would be better to meet there so that they could talk freely.

"Good day, gentlemen. You know what we have to do today," Shocker told them as they gathered around. "The device in my hand here will tell me that you have completed your task. If there are no questions…"

"When are we going to actually set the plan in motion?" one of the men asked.

"Tomorrow night there's a costume party and that's when we'll inform everyone what our intentions are. If there's a problem amongst the passengers and crew, handle it any way you see fit but I'll let you know if killing is an option. Is that clear?"

"Yes, sir," they all replied.

"Now, if there are no further questions, get to work."

* * *

After a quick change of clothes followed by a delicious lunch, Peter and Mary Jane spent part of their afternoon walking around the ship.

"You know, MJ, I didn't think a cruise ship could be this big," Peter mentioned as they took a break from walking, leaned over the rails and enjoyed the view of the ocean.

"Uh huh, and the air out here is so very fresh," added Mary Jane as she joined Peter by the ship's rails.

"Way better than what it is back home."

"Most definitely."

"But, there is something about the city that you can't find on the open…" Peter abruptly stopped what he was about to say, and began to look around.

"What's the matter, Peter?" Mary Jane asked curiously.

In a hushed voice, Peter answered, "My spider-sense just started to buzz all of a sudden. It started as a light tingling sensation but it has slowly gotten stronger. It's as if something that's triggering it is coming closer."

Peter took a quick look out towards the water but saw nothing, therefore ruling that out. Then both he and Mary Jane scanned behind them. People were out and about on deck enjoying their day and the sun. It didn't take long for Peter to spot who was causing his spider-sense to go off.

"MJ, do you see a man in a light blue jacket heading towards one of the entrances back in the ship?" Peter asked.

"Yeah," Mary Jane replied as she took a quick glance. "He activated your spider sense?"

"That's right and I'm going to find out why. Just stay here, MJ, I'll be right back."

"Be careful, sweetheart."

Peter gave her a reassuring nod and peck on the check before he went after the guy who set off his spider-sense. _This would be so much easier if there weren't so many people around and if I was in costume_, thought Peter. He tried his best under the circumstances to stay as close to the man as possible without being seen.

The man that Peter was following stopped and turned suddenly. Peter quickly ducked out of sight around a corner so he wouldn't be spotted. Luckily there was a reflective piece of artwork that he could use to see why the man stopped. His answer came when another man joined the one Peter was following. He then peeked out from around the corner to see what was going on.

It was then that Peter's spider-sense really began to tingle. The new guy briefly flashed a concealed weapon and his compatriot noticed this as well. Scolding his buddy for it, the guy Peter followed helped his friend to conceal it again and looked around to see if anyone noticed.

With spider-like quickness, Peter ducked back out of view. Once again he looked for the pair using the piece of reflective art. Unfortunately, when Peter looked there was no one there and his spider-sense had stopped tingling.

He hurried out of his hiding spot and went to the spot where the two men had met. With a couple of directions they could have gone made it tough for Peter to find out where they went.

"It looks like Spider-Man won't have much of a vacation after all," Peter said as he went back to Mary Jane to tell her what happened.

* * *

**AN:** I encourage everyone who reads this fic to leave a review to let me know what you think of it. Constructive criticism is fine but no flames please.


	4. Rough Seas Ahead

_Rough Seas Ahead_

"That went… well," Mary Jane said as she and Peter left the security office.

After losing track of the men, Peter had gone immediately with Mary Jane to inform the ship's personnel, specifically ship's security. But all they had told him was that they would look into it and if Peter or Mary Jane saw anything to let them know.

"Yeah, but it wasn't completely unexpected. There's not a whole lot they can do except keep on eye out for those guys and with the number of people on the ship, that's a difficult task for them to accomplish," mentioned Peter.

"So, what happens now?"

"Just like security on the ship will do, we'll keep our eyes open for those guys too. Also, I wouldn't be surprised if there are more of them on board. Tonight I'll take a look around, spider style."

"I kind of figured you would."

* * *

_Later that evening_

With the cloaking technology in his Iron Spider costume, Peter was able to leave his cabin wearing normal clothes. But once he found a secluded dark place, he changed his appearance to Spider-Man, using the old black and white costume. By using this version, he would be able to blend in with the dark parts of the ship.

"Well, let's take a look around," Spider-Man said as he spun a webline and swung his way up to one of the ship's smokestacks. From up there, he had an excellent view of the main deck of the ship and would be out of view of any prying eyes.

Using the visual enhancements of the suit, especially infrared vision, Spider-Man would have no trouble spotting anything in the dark of night.

_There appears to be nothing out of the ordinary tonight, at least out here anyways_, he said to himself as he scanned the area around him. "But I think that one couple over there," shocked to see what the couple was doing in public, "should go to their room."

Several more minutes passed without anything going on and not a tingle from his spider-sense either. Spider-Man climbed down from the smokestack and kept himself amongst the shadows.

Spider-Man went to the stern of the ship to see what was going on back there. With no spider-sense tingling, that was a sure sign that nothing was happening back there at the moment. At this end of the sea faring vessel, there weren't many open areas like at the bow and that meant Spider-Man had to stay relatively closer to the deck than he wanted to.

_Still nothing going on around here_, he thought after spending more time watching and waiting.

After some more time passed, Spider-Man took a swing around the ship. It didn't take him long to circle the place and he still found nothing out of the ordinary.

"Might as well call it a night," he said as Spider-Man landed on a dark and deserted part of the deck.

A quick change and he was old Peter Parker again. He took a quick stroll along the deck to check things out once more before heading back to his cabin. As he headed back, Peter's spider-sense began to tingle. Without hesitation, he used the sensation to guide him towards whatever was setting it off.

It led him down a few corridors to what appeared to be a maintenance room. With no one looking, Peter carefully opened the door and looked inside. There appeared to be nothing threatening in there despite his spider-sense giving off a low tingle. With nothing more out of the ordinary, he decided to call it a night and head back to the cabin.

Shortly after he left, a couple of men went inside that very room.

"Just keep an eye out, will ya," the one man told his friend.

"Yeah, yeah."

Inside was the device that he had personally setup a day or so before. Punching in a code on the small keypad, followed by the enter key, he armed the bomb.

"It's done. Let's get out of here and have some fun," the man that just activated the bomb said to his buddy.

"Sure thing."

* * *

Shocker had kept himself busy as he too armed the bomb that he had placed on board. With the detonator in hand, he made sure that the bomb was ready if he needed to use it. A small smirk made its way to his face as the detonator light came on with several others that signified other bombs were already armed as well.

"Good, it looks like I have the right guys for the job," Shocker said as he headed back to his cabin to fine tune his vibro-shock devices.

* * *

Peter quietly entered his room so as not to disturb Mary Jane who appeared to be sound asleep.

"How did it go, Peter?" Mary Jane asked as she turned on the lamp on the nightstand and sat up in bed.

"It could've been better," he answered as he took off his costume and put it away in a locked suitcase.

"Why do you say that?"

Now in his sleeping attire consisting of a pair of sleep pants, Peter got into bed and answered his wife's question. "There was absolutely nothing going on up on deck. When I decided to take a little look around within the ship, my spider-sense did go off a little bit. It led to some kind of maintenance room. There was nothing out of the ordinary but I didn't get a good look when a couple of guys came my way so I had to make a quick getaway. I may check it out tomorrow."

"Sounds like a good idea."

"Uh huh, and this whole thing could be nothing."

"True, but do you really believe that, Peter?"

"With my luck, I highly doubt it. But if it is serious, I have my Avengers ID card so I can contact them if I need to."

"Hopefully it won't come down to that. If you still don't find anything, at least then we can enjoy the rest of the cruise."

"Yeah, it would be nice if I didn't have to bust some heads." Peter turned to Mary Jane and gave her a warm kiss before reaching for the lamp. "'Night, MJ."

"Good night, Pete."

* * *

The following day, Peter tried to find the room that set off his spider-sense. Regrettably, he wasn't able to with the activity onboard during the day and since all the hallways looked the same it was that much harder to find where he went last night. So, Peter spent the rest of the day with Mary Jane either lounging around the pool or checking out one of the shops.

That day was also when the costume party was to take place. As the day passed, Peter was wondering what Mary Jane would be dressed up as. Of course, he would go as his alter ego of Spider-Man. Using the Iron Spider costume, Peter could go to the party in any of his past costumes except the one that Johnny Storm had fashioned for him.

Mary Jane was very tight-lipped about what she was wearing, right up to the time they got ready for the party.

"Hey, MJ," Peter called out while she was changing into her costume in the washroom. "What version of my Spider-Man costume should I go out as?"

With just a thought, the Iron Spider suit changed into his classic red and blues with webbing under the arms. Then he changed into the black and white costume. That one was not an option especially since Mary Jane had a strong dislike of it. He switched the costume to appear like the one Ben Reilly, his clone, had worn. _I wonder if MJ would like this_, Peter thought as he got a good look at himself in a nearby mirror.

It was at this time that Mary Jane had come out of the bathroom in full costume.

"MJ, how about…" Peter began when he turned around and got a good look at what his wife was wearing and lost his train of thought.

"How do I look?" Mary Jane asked, fully dressed as the She-Devil with a sword, Red Sonja.

"I… I… I…" Peter stammered out just amazed at how much MJ looked like the woman he had teamed up with before.

"So, I take it you like how I look?"

Still unable to form a coherent thought, Peter nodded in agreement.

"Peter, just go in the red and blue costume. You've always looked good in it."

Peter, finding his voice at last squeaked out, "Okay."

Within a second, Peter was in the classic red and blue Spider-Man costume. Taking his wife's hand, they left the cabin for the party.

When they arrived, they could see that several of their fellow passengers were in various types of costumes including some very well known heroes. Peter was surprised to see a few dressed as Spider-Man.

"Don't let it go to your head," Mary Jane told him as she too spotted some Spider-Men wandering about.

"Who me?" Peter responded as they both went to get something to eat.

They then found a free table and sat down to eat. When they finished, Peter and Mary Jane took to the dance floor. The song they were dancing too abruptly stopped when a group of men stopped the band from playing by firing some shots into the air.

"Now that we have your attention, I would like to introduce myself," the man on the mic told the stunned crowd as he made his appearance known. "You may call me Shocker. I have just commandeered this vessel. If anyone wants to try to be a hero…"

Shocker fired a vibro-shock blast at a nearby table, shattering it to pieces.

"The old Parker luck is running true to form as usual…" Peter whispered to Mary Jane. "…because this vacation has just come to an end."

**AN:** Please leave a review because I would like to know what you think, especially since there has been a lack of them lately. Constructive criticism is fine but no flames.


	5. A Storm is Blowin' In

_A Storm is Blowin' In_

Both Peter and Mary Jane keenly realized the danger that everyone on the ship was in. They didn't have to just worry about his archenemy, Shocker, but his hired men as well. If everyone was going to make it out this situation alive, it would be up to him as Spider-Man.

"We have got to find a way out of here to inform the captain what's going on and try to contact the Avengers," Peter quietly mentioned to Mary Jane.

"Any ideas on how you're going to do that?"

"Maybe, but I want to find out what he wants first before—"

Peter was cut off when a couple members of the ship's crew charged the Shocker.

"People never learn," Shocker said as he fired at the two charging men with his vibro-shock devices.

The blast hit each man square in the chest, sending both across the room. They were slammed into the wall with extreme force, knocking them both out.

"Now that I have everyone's attention again, listen and listen well," Shocker informed the room in a calm voice. "My men and I are hijacking this ship. The cruise line will be informed of our demands very shortly."

"And what are your demands?" someone asked.

"One hundred million dollars or else we'll sink the ship."

That last comment drew a gasp from the passengers who were now more terrified than they already were.

"You see, I had several bombs placed throughout the ship before everyone boarded," the Shocker stated and he held up the detonator. "This device gives me control over each one. I can set them off either one at a time… or all at once. But let's hope it doesn't come down to that."

That wasn't good news for any of the passengers. Suddenly, a male passenger that was close to Peter and Mary Jane began to moan in pain and then grab his left arm. The man's girlfriend or wife, including Peter and Mary Jane, noticed this and went to the man's side.

"Harold!" the woman exclaimed with worry.

"We'd better lay him down," Mary Jane told the woman as she and Peter helped out.

"Try to loosen his collar. I'm not a doctor but I think your friend here might be having a heart attack," Peter told Harold's companion.

"This was supposed to be a stress-free vacation. His doctor recommended this and…" The woman started to sob uncontrollably.

"What's going on here?" one of Shocker's men asked at the commotion that was going on.

"This man may be suffering from a heart attack and needs to see a doctor," Peter told the man calmly.

"Please, I beg you, I don't want my husband to die," the woman said.

"All right, I'll talk it over with the boss and be right back."

The man left and went over to Shocker to inform him of what was going on. It wasn't long that both men came to where the quartet was.

_It figures Shocker would come over here_, Peter thought none too happily. _I have to keep my interaction with him to a bare minimum or else it may tip him off to who I really am_.

"Are you going to be all right, sweetheart?" MJ asked, concerned.

"I'll be fine, I just don't like having to deal with Shocker," Peter told her.

Mary Jane had a pretty good idea what Peter meant. Before she could say anything else, Shocker and the man they had talked to were right in front of them.

"I hear someone needs to see a doctor?" Shocker asked, looking the group over.

"Yes, my husband could be having a heart attack. Please, we need to get him some medical attention," Harold's wife pleaded, sobbing a bit.

"All right, you and those two with ya can help take your husband to the ship's doctor. You won't be going alone; my friend here will accompany you."

"Thank you, thank you."

Peter and Mary Jane got on either side of Harold, helped him up and began to take him out of the room. Before they left, Shocker stopped them and approached Peter.

"You know, I've tangled with the webhead on a few occasions," Shocker mentioned to Peter. "If you were really him, I would've had to rough you up a bit before I tossed you off this ship."

"Makes me glad I'm not him then," replied Peter, feigning worry.

Shocker stepped aside to let them take Harold to the doctor.

_If he only knew_, Peter thought with a smirk as the group put some distance between themselves and Shocker. Luckily for them, the ship's doctor was only a couple of decks below them and the nearest elevator wasn't far so they would be able to get Harold some medical attention rather quickly.

The journey down to the doctor was done in silence, for the most part. Harold's wife sobbed with worry off and on as they went.

Mary Jane was about to knock on the door to the doctor's office when it suddenly opened.

"Please come in," a nurse informed them and brought out a wheelchair and assisted in putting Harold in the chair. "The doctor has been expecting you."

They quickly wheeled Harold in, placed him on an examination table and then got out of the way so that the doctor could do his job.

"Is my husband going to be all right, doctor?" the concerned wife asked.

"I'll do my best, ma'am," replied the ship's physician.

"How did you know we were coming?" Mary Jane asked the nurse.

"The doctor was informed that someone was being brought down who could be suffering from a heart attack. We were also informed about what is currently going on with the ship," replied the nurse.

"I wonder when the rest of the ship will know of the current situation," mused Peter.

"They'll know as soon as the boss wants them to know," the Shocker's henchman informed Peter. "Now that this guy is getting taken care of, you and your girlfriend can go back with me."

He flashed his gun; Peter and Mary Jane knew that he meant business. If Peter wanted to do something, it would have to be soon. _I think I have an idea_, Peter thought as he and Mary Jane were escorted back to the ballroom, where this whole mess had started.

As luck would have it, the Shocker's goon was beside both Peter and Mary Jane which would make what Peter had in mind that much easier. They approached the elevator and had to press the button to bring the car to their deck. With their escort back to Shocker between them, Peter unfurled one of the Waldoes and tapped him on the shoulder. As the man turned around, with spider-like quickness, he hit the guy square in the jaw, knocking him unconscious.

Peter immediately webbed the man up.

"I've been itching to do that since Shocker's little comment. Too bad it wasn't him – but he'll get his eventually," Peter said as he propped the unconscious man up against the wall.

"What are we going to do now?" MJ asked.

"First, we get this guy out of the way so he won't get back to Shocker any time soon. Next, we'll need to go to the bridge and make sure that the captain has control of the ship and try to contact the authorities. You can help me with that by going back to our room to get my ID card so I can try and reach the Avengers to let them know what's going on."

"Sounds like a good plan to me. I'll make a quick change out this costume because I probably won't be any help to you in it."

"But you look so beautiful… Ow!" Peter rubbed his arm where Mary Jane had smacked him. "All right, go ahead and change. I'll go take our friend here back to the doctor's office and find out where we can keep him."

"I'll be back as soon as I can, Tiger."

The elevator arrived and Mary Jane left to do her part while Peter picked up his fallen adversary to get to work on freeing the ship from Shocker's control.

* * *

**AN:** I haven't been seeing a lot of reviews lately and that's disappointing because I would like to hear what people think of this story. Constructive criticism is more than welcome but please, no flames.


	6. Changing Tides

_**Changing Tides**_

Before entering the doctor's office, Peter changed his costume from his classic version to the Iron Spider one, to make sure that no one could connect him with being Spider-Man. It was a simple solution he hoped would work.

He knocked on the office door in his own unique way, hanging upside down from the ceiling with the webbed up bad guy in hand.

The nurse's eyes were wide. "What in the…?"

"I was wondering if there was any place on this ship to stow this," Spider-Man said as he flipped down with the bad guy still in hand.

"Who… What?"

"I'm your friendly neighborhood Spider-Man. I was enjoying a nice little vacation away from the craziness that is my life and I just happened to find this character holding a gun to a couple of fellow passengers. So, I stepped in to help. They told me that this ship was being hijacked…"

She was too shocked to really understand what he was telling her. "I'm sorry, but I've never seen a real superhero before."

"That's all right, I've never seen a ship's nurse before either."

That got a laugh from the nurse, exactly what the wallcrawler wanted. With the current situation on board, the more at ease people were, the easier it would be for him to get his job done.

"As I was saying before, I need a place to stow this guy so he doesn't get word to Shocker that I'm on board to thwart his evilness."

"You can leave him here, Spider-Man," the doctor told him, overhearing the conversation between him and his nurse. "I can sedate and secure him to one of the beds here."

"Thanks, Doc. Lead the way."

The doctor led Spider-Man further into his office and to an empty bed. As gently as he could, the webhead placed his adversary on the bed. Using the straps on the bed, as well as some webbing, the unconscious man was thoroughly secured. The doctor then gave him a shot to keep him sedated.

"How long will that shot last?" Spider-Man asked.

"A few hours," replied the doctor, discarding the needle he had used.

"If you need to, can you keep him out longer?"

"I believe so but I wouldn't want to keep medicating him indefinitely."

Being a scientist, Spider-Man knew what the doctor meant. Even though the guy was working on the wrong side of the law, there was no reason to put his life in jeopardy.

"I fully understand that, Doc. I'm going to head to the bridge and see if Shocker has a partner up there to make sure the ship goes wherever he wants it to. Hopefully I'll be able to talk to the captain to see if there's a more secure location to put this guy."

Spider-Man took a look over where Harold, the man that he and Mary Jane helped bring down there, was with his wife.

"I hope I didn't cause you any trouble with your patient, Doc."

"Not really. My patient just had a very mild heart attack. Luckily, I was able to treat him immediately. This could have been much worse than it was."

_MJ will be glad to hear that_, Peter mused. That was a relief. Peter had been wondering how Harold was.

"Since you have everything under control here, I'd best be going. I'll be back to take that guy off your hands when I can. I'll even see if I can get someone from ship's security to either take him or watch over him while he's here," Spider-Man said as he gestured toward the guy he had brought in.

"Take care, Spider-Man," the doctor and nurse told the wallcrawler as he left the office.

Once out the door, he ran into Mary Jane, who was now dressed in regular clothing and carrying his Avengers ID card in hand.

"How are things going down here?" MJ asked as she accepted a brief hug from her husband and handed him the card.

After explaining what had just happened, Mary Jane felt very relieved.

"That's good news. Now, are we still heading to the ship's bridge?"

"Yes, but we'll have to be careful. I don't know if Shocker has sent any men up there to secure the place or not but it wouldn't surprise me if did. You know I don't like you coming with me but I'd rather know where you are and that you're safe."

"To tell you the truth, I agree with you, man o' mine. But I'll do what I can to help."

"Thanks, MJ."

Peter was unsure if he should use the elevator, especially with Mary Jane with him, but his spider-sense would warn him if danger was near. When the elevator car arrived, with no tingling from his spider-sense, Peter and Mary Jane boarded it and took it topside.

When they reached the top, Peter made sure that he went first since he could react to any danger quickly and to make sure that he was the target instead of Mary Jane.

"There's no one around here or at least not yet, anyway."

"Pete, take a look at this," Mary Jane said as she pointed to what looked like one of the ship's maps.

Taking a bit to study it, Peter knew exactly where they were and how to get to the bridge from there.

Peter considered his next course of action. "It looks like we have to hoof it from here, sweetheart, unless…"

"Unless, what?"

"I could get us there, spider-style. That would get us there quicker and keep us from being seen."

Mary Jane nodded in agreement. Peter told her to get on his back and secured her with some webbing.

"Hold on tight, MJ."

And held on she did. Mary Jane knew what to expect from Peter when he used his spider-abilities especially when they went webswinging together, but it still startled her sometimes.

With the ease of years of experience, Peter leaped up to the ceiling and started crawling along towards the bridge. When it came to a stairwell, Peter crawled down low enough for Mary Jane to open the door after he used his spider-sense to make sure there was no danger around. Giving the all clear, MJ opened the door and they continued on their way.

Without a tingle from his spider-sense, Peter and Mary Jane exited the stairwell and continued to the bridge on foot. Once they got within a couple of feet of the bridge's door, Peter stopped immediately and grabbed his wife by the arm to halt her forward progress.

"What's the…" began Mary Jane but Peter prevented her from saying more by gesturing to be quiet.

His spider-sense had begun to tingle and rather strongly at that. Wallcrawling up above the door, he quickly took a peek inside, and then moved them back out of sight.

"I take it there's trouble up ahead."

"It's just like I thought, Shocker had a couple of men sent up here. That means he's slowly taking over the ship. In order to put a crimp in his plans we have take back control of the ship," Peter stated.

"Sounds like a plan. Do you have a plan, webhead?"

"I believe I do, Red, I believe I do."

* * *

Activity in the bridge continued as normal despite the fact that there were two armed men watching their every move.

"Remember, do exactly as you are told or you'll be sleeping with the fishes," one of the gunmen informed the bridge crewmen.

"Yeah, that's tellin' 'em, Morry," his compatriot added with a laugh.

"What makes you think that you'll get away with this?" the captain defiantly asked.

"In a few moments, the boss will be making a ship-wide announcement about what he has planned and the consequences for anyone disobeying his orders. So, if I were you, I'd join your first officer over there and keep your pie-hole shut," Morry informed the captain as he took a seat next to his first officer.

"I guess that's it, then. There's nothing anyone can do to help us," the captain told his first officer sadly.

"You know, captain, I wouldn't throw in the towel just yet. Take a look to our immediate left," she told her superior.

As he did, he caught a glimpse of Spider-Man open one of the bridge's windows.

"What in the devil…?" muttered the captain.

Spider-Man immediately held up a finger to his face to silence the captain and anyone else who saw him enter.

It was then that a knock on the door was heard.

"See who it is, Carl," Morry ordered his pal.

As quickly and silently as he could, Spider-Man crawled above Morry and snared him in a couple of strands of webbing. Hauling him up, the wallcrawler webbed his mouth shut and webbed him to the ceiling.

With gun in hand, Carl went to the door. Opening the door, he noticed a beautiful redhead there.

Putting his gun away, he asked, "Hey there, toots, what can I do you for?"

"Nothing much," Mary Jane began, "But I think someone behind you has a question."

Carl turns around and is met with punch to the face from Spider-Man. Just like his partner, he was webbed up with no way of getting out of it.

"Is the captain here?" asked Spider-Man to the astonished bridge crew.

"That would be me," said the captain as he approached his rescuer.

"Well, captain, how would you like to take back your ship?"

* * *

**AN:** Feel free to let me know what you think of this story by leaving a review. Constructive criticism is always welcome but flames are not, thank you.


	7. Weathering the Storm

**_Weathering the Storm_**

After Spider-Man had asked the captain about assisting in taking back the cruise ship, the wallcrawler extended his hand to the man.

It didn't take the captain long to make up his mind. Taking a firm grasp of Spider-Man's hand, he said, "Whatever we can do to help, webhead."

"Finally, someone on this ship knows who I am!" exclaimed Spider-Man in relief.

That brought a few snickers from the bridge crew, including the captain.

"Oh, for the love of…" Mary Jane muttered but she couldn't hold back the small smile she had, which didn't go unnoticed by her husband. He responded back with a slight shrug.

"What are we going to do with webbed twins?" asked a curious first officer.

"Do you have a brig or something like that on board?" Spider-Man answered with a question of his own.

"Not in the sense of a military vessel," the captain told him, "but we do have a cell down in security that should do the job."

"Sounds good, there's another one of Shocker's goons down in the infirmary with the good doctor. I promised him if I could find another place for the guy that I'd take him off the doc's hands."

"I'll get security to go pick the man up then." The captain went over to the communications station but before he could do anything, a message came over the ship's PA.

"_My fellow passengers… My name is Shocker and I have now commandeered this ship. I have informed the cruise line of my intentions – if they want to insure the safety of this vessel, they must deposit a hundred million dollars in the Swiss bank account that I have given them or I will sink this ship. They have forty-eight hours to accomplish this task. Everyone is to stay in their cabins; anyone who does not will be dealt with severely. My men will be placed throughout the ship to make sure of this. That is all_." There was a small click as the Shocker ended his broadcast.

"Now that we know what this Shocker character has in store, what's our first move?" the ship's first officer questioned.

"After we get Shocker's men from here and the infirmary locked up, we'll have to start looking those bombs that he has set throughout the ship," Spider-Man informed the crew.

"You mean that's how he plans on sinking this ship if he doesn't get what he wants?" a member of the crew asked.

"It's true, that's what he told everyone who was at the costume party," Mary Jane added.

"I didn't know the webhead had a partner?" another member of the crew asked.

Mary Jane quickly explained, "He doesn't, unless you count the Avengers – but that's another story. Spider-Man helped me out with that guy that is currently in the infirmary and he didn't want me wandering the ship on my own so we stuck together."

Peter just had to smile underneath his mask. He was very proud of his wife for leading the ship's crew from a possible connection between his webbed clad alias and being with her.

"Now, back to the course of action we need to take," Spider-Man started. "Captain, do you have any other means to contact your ship's security? I'd rather not tip off our 'friend' that we regained control of the ship."

"Yes, each member of security carries a radio in case they need to call for back up," replied the Captain.

"Good, but once you inform them about what's going on and pick up the guy in security, tell them to switch radio frequencies so that they can't be traced. Can they even change frequencies?"

One of the other crew members joined the conversation, "That's something we can do, Spidey. I should know, since I'm part of the ship's security."

"I should've asked if one of you guys were here. Anyway, you can contact your buddies about the current situation. Plus, let them know that we need as many of them to get up here quickly, without being seen."

"All right, I'm on it."

"Now that that is taken care of, once we get more security up here, that's when we'll go bomb hunting."

"You mean you want us to go look for those bombs?" the first officer queried.

"Unfortunately yes, if there is any way we can remove them or even deactivate them we need to take that chance. But I wouldn't worry about that yet until we get some help. Now, I need a place where I can possibly place a call."

The Captain immediately asked, "Who would you call?"

"The Ghostbusters," Spider-Man joked… but it didn't have the desired effect since no one laughed. "Seriously, I'm going to try to get in touch with my fellow Avengers." He also mumbled to himself, _Geez, they can't take a joke_.

The Captain directed the wallcrawler over to a corner of the bridge to make his call.

Pulling out the ID card, Spider-Man activated it. _I hope this works_, he said to himself as he crossed his fingers for luck.

Unfortunately, the only thing that Spider-Man was getting off the card was static. He continued to try but there was no change.

"Damn it!! I figured I would run into this kind of problem. The boss really needs to increase the signal on these things or give them some kind of satellite capability," Spider-Man stated, frustrated that he couldn't contact his teammates.

"No luck, huh?" Mary Jane asked, reading the body language of her husband very well.

"None whatsoever."

"Any luck, Spider-Man?" the Captain asked as he came over to check up on him.

"I'm sorry, Captain. We're out of range for me to get a signal out to them or it's something else, I don't know. For the time being, we are on our own."

It was at that time that a group of men and women entered the bridge and one of them approached the captain.

"You wanted to see us, sir?" the man asked after he gave his Captain a salute.

"That I did, Sergeant Crenshaw. You've heard what's happened to the ship, correct?"

"Yes, sir, we also picked up that man down in the infirmary and secured him down in security. There are a couple of men keeping an eye on him. So, where are the two you wanted us to take down?"

"They're over there," the Captain pointed out the two webbed clad figures.

"Who in the hell did that?"

"That would be me, your friendly seafaring Spider-Man," the wallcrawler told the security man.

"Wow, Spidey… How did you…?"

"We don't have time for that now, Crenshaw. There have been bombs placed throughout the ship that we need to locate," the Captain informed the Sergeant and the rest of the security team that was there.

"Shocker, who happens to be the man who devised this hijacking, wants to sink the ship if his demands aren't met. So, our job is to find those bombs," added Spider-Man.

"But what do we do when we find them?" a female member of the security team asked.

"The best scenario would be when the bombs are found to disarm them. You wouldn't happen to have anyone familiar with dismantling a bomb?"

There was some talk amongst everyone in the security group and bridge crew. The webslinger silently hoped that someone would have some kind of knowledge to disarm a bomb. _You know if no one can, I may be able to use my spider-sense as a guide to deactivate them_, Spider-Man pondered.

"I'm sorry, Spider-Man but there's no one that has that kind of expertise," Crenshaw disappointedly explained.

"That's okay. I didn't think there would be someone that could do that except for possibly me."

"I didn't know that you could do that, webhead," a member of the security team mentioned.

"Well…"

Spider-Man never had the chance to come up with an explanation as to how he would go about that task when he was interrupted by Mary Jane.

"May I have a word with you?" she asked as she pulled her husband off to the side, out of ear shot of everyone.

"What's the matter, MJ?" Spider-Man asked, curiously.

"What do you mean, what's the matter? You've never disarmed a bomb before in your life. How can you truly believe that you can pull something like that off?" Mary Jane worriedly asked.

Grabbing hold of Mary Jane's hands to ease her worry, he explained, "By using my spider-sense like I do in a fight to avoid danger, I should be able to do the same thing in disarming a bomb. Plus, I should be able to find the explosive device that much quicker using it. I'll also be able to help the others who find a bomb and talk them through deactivating it over the radio in my mask once I tune in to their frequency."

"All right, I see your point. But if you run into any kind of trouble…"

"…I'll stop what I'm doing and just take the bomb away and toss it overboard."

"Good luck, sweetheart." Mary Jane gave him a kiss on the cheek.

"Thanks, we could all use it. Just stay here and I'll be back before you know it."

Spider-Man and Mary Jane went back to the others to discuss what he had planned. He suggested that they split up in teams of two or three and that each group would have one deck to search. They would need to be on the lookout for any of Shocker's men and to avoid them if possible.

The wallcrawler reminded them that they would be on the same radio frequency to stay in contact with each other. Also, when they found the bomb, he would talk them through disarming it. He told them that once the bomb has been deactivated, they could take it and toss it overboard.

Now that they had a plan, they divided themselves up into groups and began their search.

"Be careful, Tiger," Mary Jane silently said as Spider-Man left with everyone else to put a stop to Shocker's scheme.

* * *

**AN:** Please take the time to leave a review because I really like to hear what you think about this chapter and the story so far. Constructive criticism is welcome but flames are not.


	8. A New Course

_**A New Course**_

With Mary Jane staying on the bridge that was one less thing Peter had to worry about. Right now he had to worry about finding and dismantling the bombs that Shocker had placed on board. _That's something I'll have to thank him for_, he thought as he and the rest of the ship's security detail went out to locate the bombs for disarming.

One of the things that he was grateful for was that all the decks to the ship would be covered. Spider-Man had figured that the lower decks were the most likely targets but just to be safe, he wanted all the decks checked out.

Spider-Man also warned each group to keep on the lookout for Shocker's men. Since the villain didn't want any of the passengers running around on the ship, he would have to have some of his people make sure that didn't happen. So each team either made their way to their respective decks fast enough not to be spotted or took a route in order not to be spotted by anyone.

Even though he could handle things on his own, Spider-Man was partnered with one of the ship's security officers. His partner was Commander Crenshaw. With him, it would make navigating around the ship that much easier and quicker. Plus, an extra set of eyes wouldn't hurt in case they got spotted.

It didn't take the pair long to reach their destination, which happened to be the bottommost part of the ship. Once again, the wallcrawler relied upon his spider-sense to make sure their exit from the stairwell they used was safe. With no warning, Spider-Man motioned to Crenshaw that it was safe to head into the deck's hallway.

"Which way, Webs, to the left or right?" Crenshaw asked.

Spider-Man looked right and didn't feel a tingle from his spider-sense. With a turn to the left, he felt a slight tingle.

"We take a left, Sarge," Spider-Man answered as he leapt up to the ceiling and began crawling in that direction.

Crenshaw took the webhead's advice and followed.

"Any particular reason for going this way?"

"Let's just say I have a pretty good feeling that we are heading in the right direction."

They didn't get too far when Spider-Man abruptly stopped and got off the ceiling to stand beside his partner.

"What is it?" Crenshaw asked at their sudden stop.

"Let's take a look in there," Spider-Man told him.

A nod from Crenshaw's head let the wallcrawler know that he agreed. Spider-Man grabbed the door knob and turned to open it but the door wouldn't open. Adding some spider-strength on his next attempt proved successful as they then entered the room.

Once inside, Spider-Man asked his partner, "Do you mind keeping watch by the door in case someone tries to come our way?"

"Sure," Crenshaw replied as he left the door slightly ajar so that could get a glimpse if anyone came their way.

With that taken care of, Spider-Man began his search. Using his spider-sense as a guide, it took him very little time to find the explosive device.

"I found it!" he exclaimed as he started to examine the bomb.

"Do you think you can disarm it?" Crenshaw asked with concern.

"I'm going to try."

With his spider-sense tingling at a pretty good pace, Spider-Man had to concentrate to discern what would be the best course to take. _You know, this would be _so_ much easier if there was a simple switch to deactivate this thing_, he thought as he continued to probe the device with his fingers.

Suddenly, his spider-sense spiked when he touched a part on the bomb that looked like a computer chip that had four wires coming from it and attached to the bomb. The wires were different colors and they were: black, blue, red and white.

"Now, to figure out which one or ones to disconnect," Spider-Man said to himself as he fingered the wires to get a reaction from his spider-sense.

Out of the four wire connections, three of them made his spider-sense tingle violently. Those wires were the ones colored blue, red and white.

"How's it lookin' out there, Commander?" Spider-Man asked before disconnecting the first wire.

"There's no one in sight," replied Crenshaw as he continued at his task. "How's the bomb coming?"

"Just about ready to disarm it."

"Good luck, webhead."

"Thanks."

Spider-Man grabbed the blue wire firmly and gave it a good yank. Luckily, nothing happened. Letting out a breath he didn't realize he held the wallcrawler did the same thing to the remaining wires with the same result as the first one.

"No boom… Now that's a very good thing," Spider-Man said to himself, relieved that he was able to disarm the bomb. "Crenshaw, the bomb's disarmed… despite having no arms to begin with."

Crenshaw then replied, "Great – but do you always have to crack wise in situations like this?"

"In a word, no, but it's an edge-breaker and a habit I have. Have you heard from anyone else yet?"

Just as the security team member was about to answer, they got one over the radio. "_This is Clark on the eighth deck. We've found the device and would like assistance to disarm._"

"Okay, I'll talk you through it since I already disarmed the one here," Spider-Man told Clark. "Is there anyone else that has found one on their respective decks?"

"_Jackson here, bomb has been found on deck six,_" another team mentioned.

And yet another team reported, "_We've done the same on the fifth deck and are waiting for further orders._"

"What about teams on decks one, two, three and four? Have you guys found anything?" Crenshaw interjected.

The teams from the mentioned decks reported that there was no sign of any bomb on those decks. Spider-Man gave them a description of the bomb that he had found to see if they were the same type and to make sure those upper deck teams didn't over look anything. The response was negative for the upper level decks. While the ones that had reported that they found the bomb, they said that the description was exactly the same as the one Spider-Man had already disarmed.

"All right, you guys on decks one to four, half go back to the bridge and the rest head back to the security office," ordered Crenshaw to his men.

"What about the team on deck seven? We haven't heard a thing from them yet," Spider-Man inquired.

"Did you hear that, Mathews and Cates? What's your status on seven?" Crenshaw asked over the radio.

"_This is Cates, Commander. We're still looking… wait, Mathews just found the bomb_," the female security officer informed her superior.

"Okay, ladies and gentlemen, I'll talk you through the disarming process," Spider-Man began to tell the others. "Everyone ready?"

"Yes, sir," came their reply.

Spider-Man instructed them to locate a part on the side of the bomb that resembled a computer chip. When they had all found that piece of the device, he then explained to them that three out of the four wires attached to the chip had to be disconnected in order to deactivate the bomb. The webslinger then told them that the blue, red and white wires had to be disconnected.

When each group had completed their task, they replied, "The three wires have been disconnected."

"Good job, everyone," Spider-Man said.

"He's right, you all did great," added Crenshaw with a sigh of relief.

"Now with the hard part done, I want you to bring the bombs to the bridge so that we can figure out a way to store them and then dispose of them when we reach land. Anyone have any ideas on where we can keep 'em?"

"_Commander, there's a couple of footlockers in one of the storage areas on the deck that Van and I are on. We can grab one and bring it up to the bridge_," Clark informed them.

"That should do," Commander Crenshaw answered.

"One more thing, be careful heading back up to the bridge because Shocker's goons are probably keeping an eye out on every deck now," added Spider-Man.

They all agreed with what the wallcrawler had said and they ended the conversation to head back to the bridge.

"Ready, webhead?" Crenshaw asked.

"Just a sec, CC," Spider-Man told his partner as he encased the bomb in some webbing for easy transport and to cushion it just in case it fell from their grasp. "We're good to go now."

* * *

"What the hell is taking that buffoon so long?" Shocker asked no one in particular.

"A problem, boss?" one of his men asked as he re-joined Shocker.

"Go and see what is keeping O'Connor. He should've been back from taking that guy to see the doc."

"But boss, I just got back from perimeter check."

"You questioning my orders," Shocker told his subordinate as one of his vibro-shock gauntlets crackled with energy.

"No, no, boss. I'll get right on it." He quickly left to carry out his orders.

"That's what I thought you'd say."

* * *

Commander Crenshaw took a quick look out the door and with no one in sight, gave a nod to Spider-Man to let him know that it was all right to go. Before exiting the room, the webslinger secured the deactivated bomb with a couple of his suit's waldoes and just like before, he took to the ceiling.

"With all the bombs deactivated, it should be smooth sailing from now on," Crenshaw noted as they neared the stairwell.

"The hard part is definitely over but we still have Shocker to deal with," Spider-Man informed his friend, knowing full well what going up against his arch foe was like.

"So, how are we going to bring that Shocker character down then, webhead?"

"I'm not sure, at least not yet because there are several passengers that he could do anything to. Whatever happens, I want the Captain to know what is going to happen."

"I agree."

They were about to enter the stairwell when someone exited that very place and flashed a semi-automatic weapon at the pair which had also set off the wallcrawler's spider-sense.

Shocker's henchman told them, "Well, well, well. If either of you move an inch, you'll be spending eternity in Davy Jones' Locker."

* * *

**AN:** That's all for this chapter. Please feel free to leave a review because I would like to hear from you. Constructive criticism is welcome but flames are not.


	9. The Calm Before the Storm

**_The Calm before the Storm_**

"I thought everyone was told not to be wandering the ship," Shocker's man threatened, still pointing his gun. "You should know better than that… uh… Sergeant?"

Thinking quickly so that the gunman wouldn't notice a certain someone from above, Crenshaw explained, "I just heard about that and I was heading to my quarters since I'm off duty now. By the way, that's Commander and not Sergeant."

"Well pardon me all to hell, _Commander_. Now keep your yap shut or you're dead because I ain't in the mood to deal with the likes of you."

"How about dealing with me, chrome dome?" Spider-Man asked, still clinging to the ceiling above.

"What the…" the man started to say as he looked up to see who asked him the question.

Spider-Man just waved at the man before webbing his mouth shut and then yanked the gun from his opponent's hands with the assistance of more webbing. The Commander wasn't to be outdone so he decked the guy with a punch to the head.

"Damn, that guy has a hard chin" Crenshaw painfully shook his left hand.

With the bad guy knocked out, Spider-Man webbed him up he then asked, "How far is you security office from here?"

"Just a couple of decks up, why do you ask?"

"Well, we got another prisoner to add to our collection in our makeshift brig and I would like to get this little party favor off my hands just in case we run into any more trouble. Plus, I don't think it's very wise for us to split up especially after what just happened."

"I agree. Do we continue using the stairs with our buddy over there?" Crenshaw asked while pointing to the unconscious henchman.

"Might as well. You can take our package while I pick up the extra baggage."

Spider-Man handed over the bomb to the Commander while he went over to pick up the still knocked man. Crenshaw picked up their adversary's weapon in the meantime. With the proportionate strength of a spider, the wallcrawler picked up Shocker's fallen man and placed him over his shoulder.

It wasn't long after they had everything together that the pair made their way towards the security office by way of the stairs. They were very careful to not be seen and since there had been no warning from his spider-sense, Spider-Man knew that they would make it without a fuss.

"I'll show you where you can put the prisoner," Crenshaw informed the webslinger as they entered the security office.

"Good, that'll give me a chance to see how the others are faring in their new environment," Spider-Man told him.

The Commander led the way to where the cell was at the back of the office.

"Hey Commander, what are you doing…" one of the guards began when he noticed who had accompanied his boss. "Is that who I think it is, boss?"

Spider-Man immediately jumped in with an answer. "You betcha, I'm your friendly cruise-taking, Spider-Man. And I come bearing gifts, well, _gift_, actually."

The webslinger removed the captured henchman from his shoulder and placed him in a nearby chair.

"I see you brought me another one," stated the guard, now over the surprise of seeing the webhead.

"How are the prisoners doing, Kelly?" Crenshaw asked his subordinate.

"The one from the infirmary is still out like a light, sir. The other two haven't done a thing since they are still wrapped in webbing."

"Good because the wallcrawler has another one for you."

Kelly had wondered a little bit about the guy Spider-Man had brought with him. So he unlocked the cell and aided in putting the new occupant inside. It was at that time that the pair who was caught on the bridge began to struggle in their webbing.

"Uh oh, it looks like the webbed twins are trying to hurt themselves and we can't have that, can we?" Spider-Man told the duo as he webbed them up some more. "That takes care of that problem."

He then left the cell along with Kelly, who locked it up immediately.

"How many more can you hold in there?" Spider-Man queried to Kelly.

Kelly was quickly responded, "Not many more, why?"

"With Shocker and his men still able to roam free about the ship, there needs to be a place to hold them once we can secure the ship once more."

"I thought we had control of the ship?"

Crenshaw answered his shipmate, "We do, but that Shocker character and his goons don't know that. Keeping those guys in the dark will further help us round them all up."

"That'll be another thing that we'll have to talk to the Captain about," Spider-Man mentioned to the Commander.

"Right, so we better get back up there. Do you need more help to watch these guys, Kelly?"

"A couple of extra hands wouldn't hurt, boss."

"I'll send a couple guys down here to help."

With that being settled, Crenshaw and Spider-Man left the security office and headed back up to the bridge. As they passed the elevator to use the stairs again, the wallcrawler's spider-sense began to tingle.

_What in the…_ Spider-Man thought as came to a stop and looked towards the elevator.

Commander Crenshaw noticed this and asked, "What's the matter, webhead?"

"Trouble's coming our way," Spider-Man answered as he prepared himself for the oncoming danger.

"What do you…?" was all Crenshaw got out when a couple of dark clad men exited the elevator.

The two stepped out of the elevator with their guns at the ready.

"Come on, O'Hirn, let's get this over with quick," Martin, O'Hirn's partner mentioned as they stepped out into the hallway.

O'Hirn, irritated at his friend's remarks replied, "Yeah, yeah, quit your damn belly aching."

When they looked around, they immediately spotted both Crenshaw and Spider-Man.

"Now, Marty, don't do anything…" O'Hirn began to warn his partner until he fired a couple of shots.

Luckily, Spider-Man's uncanny sense warning him of danger screamed loudly at him and he was able to shove the Commander out of harm's way as well as himself.

"You alright, Crenshaw?" Spider-Man asked his comrade.

"Yeah, thanks to you," was Crenshaw's reply as he fired back with his own weapon.

"Why in the hell did you have to start shooting?" a dumbfounded O'Hirn asked Marty, and added quietly, "Idiot."

"Sorrr-eee," Martin replied sarcastically. "I got a little excited seeing those two rubes."

"You know the boss ain't going to like this."

"Whatever he don't know won't hurt him."

O'Hirn just shrugged at his partner's last comment because he didn't really know if this incident would get back to Shocker. Plus, he didn't want to suffer any kind of repercussions if their boss did find out. So, he also fired at his adversaries as well.

"We need a plan and we need one fast because I'm running out of ammo," Crenshaw yelled out to the wallcrawler from his doorway position.

"Ask and ye shall receive," responded Spider-Man as he leapt into action.

Using his agility, Spider-Man sprang from wall to wall as he neared the duo that was shooting his way. He quickly fired a couple of web balls at and knocked their guns away. The wallcrawler disoriented them with a couple more web balls to the head. A couple of punches later, the bad guys were taken care of.

When the gunfire ended, Kelly came out of the security office to see what was going on. He was greeted by his commander and the webslinger looking over two men who were currently on the floor, knocked out.

"Here are a couple more prisoners for you, Kelly," the commander told the man once he noticed that he was out of the office.

"What the heck happened out here?" Kelly asked, surprised.

Spider-Man provided the answer, "Just a couple more of Shocker's men up to no good but we put a stop to it."

Crenshaw and Spider-Man brought the new prisoners in as well as helped Kelly put them in what was almost a full cell. Because of this, they really needed to figure out where to put more of these men when they finally caught them.

With the men they just caught now taken care of, Spider-Man and Crenshaw headed back up to the bridge to give the Captain an update on what had just transpired. Also, they would have to come up with a way to take care of not only Shocker's men, but the Shocker himself.

* * *

**AN:** I really would like to hear what you think about this story so please feel free to leave a review. Constructive criticism is always welcome but flames are not.


	10. Fighting Back

**AN:** (--) is garbled speech.

* * *

_Fighting Back_

It did not take long for our friendly neighborhood wallcrawler and the Commander to return to the bridge. When they entered, they noticed that the footlocker was already there and ready to receive their explosive deposit. Crenshaw gave Spider-Man the device to secure it with all the others.

Before placing the one he had inside, the wallcrawler added some webbing around the ones that were currently inside the footlocker for a little insurance so that they wouldn't go off if jostled. He then did the same with his and carefully closed the footlocker while locking it.

"Is there any place special you want this precious cargo, Captain?" Spider-Man asked, carefully lifting the footlocker up.

"Over in the far corner should be fine, Spider-Man," was the Captain's reply.

Once he placed the container in the corner, the wallcrawler lashed it down with some webbing.

Spider-Man was about to discuss the current situation with the Captain and Commander Crenshaw until he caught sight of Mary Jane.

"I see you made it back in one piece," she said with relief.

"That I did and not a scratch on my costume either," Spider-Man replied as he searched his costume for any marks. "I need to talk things over with the Captain about what our next move is."

"Any ideas?"

"Maybe, how did things go up here?"

"Nothing unusual, I guess Shocker still thinks he has the upper hand in this situation."

"Well, he's going to be _shocked_ learning otherwise."

They both chuckled at that comment. Spider-Man turned to head over to the Captain but Mary Jane stopped him. She gave him a quick peck on the check and whispered, "I love you, Peter."

He gave her hand a caring, gentle squeeze and nodded his head to tell her he felt the same. Letting go of her hand, Spider-Man joined the conversation that Commander Crenshaw was having with the Captain.

"Commander Crenshaw was telling me what happened, Spider-Man. But before we continue, on behalf of myself and the crew, thank you for everything that you have done thus far," Captain Miller thanked the wallcrawler.

"All in a day's work," replied Spider-Man. "But we still have Shocker and some of his men to take care of yet. Also, we need to find room to lock them up while they're still on board."

"Any thoughts on the prisoner situation?" Captain Miller asked, offering the question to not just Crenshaw but any other member of the crew that was in earshot.

While there was talk amongst the crew, Spider-Man thought of something. "You wouldn't happen to have a cargo area on board that would work?"

"I'll take a look at the ship's manifest to see what we have on the ship," offered the First Officer.

A nod from the Captain was all she needed to get to work on that and using the bridge's computer would make the job that much quicker.

"We haven't taken on anything that required a lot of space so it shouldn't be a problem to use that extra room," Lieutenant Commander Marshall informed.

"Of course, we'd have to have guards down there when the men are taken into custody," added Crenshaw.

"All right, Crenshaw, get a few of your men to ready that area," ordered the Captain.

"Aye aye, Sir."

Spider-Man then mentioned, "With that taken care of, our next move should be to get as many of Shocker's men out of the way as possible. The best way to do that is just like we did for the bombs. But no one is to go to where Shocker is because we'll save that for last."

"Why is that?" a curious member of the bridge crew asked.

"He's got passengers in there as hostages that we need to consider before we do anything because one thing I don't want to see happen is this turning into a blood bath."

"I agree with you, Spider-Man," stated the Captain as he felt the same as the wallcrawler.

"We'll use the same groups as before and with some of the decks already taken care of, we can add an extra member to each group. I'll let you handle that while I try to get in touch with the Avengers again."

Spider-Man left the group and motioned for Mary Jane to join him as used his ID card to reach his fellow Avengers. The card's screen was filled with static but was clearing a little bit so that he could make out someone whom he assumed was Jarvis.

"Is that you, Jarvis?" Spider-Man asked, hoping his question got through the static.

"_Master --Man, -- is you?_" was the Avengers' man servant's reply.

"I can barely hear you but I hope you get this. The cruise ship that Mary Jane and I are on was hijacked by Shocker and several men under his employ. He planned on sinking the ship if his demands weren't met. So far, several members of the crew and I were able to disarm the bombs. We can use any back up the rest of the Avengers can give."

"_Can -- repeat?_"

The wallcrawler went over what had told Jarvis again, hoping that he got it this time. He also let Jarvis know that Tony could get any information he need from the cruise line since Shocker had made a ransom demand to them.

"_I'll inform -- Stark and Captain -- know about what is ,_" Jarvis' garbled voice advised.

"Great, the crew and I will hold down the fort for now," Spider-Man replied, relieved that help would be on the way.

"--_ well then, take care of -- and Mrs. --._"

But before Spider-Man could answer back, the card's screen became filled with static again until it went completely blank.

"Hopefully, Jarvis can pass on enough of my message so that we can get some of the Avengers out here," he told Mary Jane.

"Uh huh, but at least you got something out. So now what are you going to do?" Mary Jane asked her husband.

"Before we tackle Shocker and whoever else he has with him, we'll do a deck search to pick up any of his men. Of course the ones where we already have picked up his goons we won't have to worry about."

"Good, because I'm going with you."

Peter was a taken a little off guard by his wife's comment. "What do you mean by that?"

"This time, I'm helping you. I can't stand being here doing nothing. I want to help, in some way."

"I don't want you putting yourself in danger like that."

"But I won't be as long as I go with you," Mary Jane pleaded along with using her greatest weapon against Peter, the dreaded puppy eyes.

_Aw, MJ did you have to use those_? Peter thought when he came to a decision. "Alright, you can come but as long as you do exactly what I tell you to do."

"Thank you for letting me do this." She rewarded her husband with a kiss on the cheek before walking over to where everyone was gathered.

"You ready, webhead?" Commander Crenshaw asked, eager to get this next step in regaining full control of the ship back.

Spider-Man answered, "Yeah, we just don't need to worry about the bottommost deck and the one up here. So, how many per group, Commander?"

"We got groups of four but it'll be just you and me as the last group. All right, you've got your assigned decks, let's move out."

The groups began leaving the bridge to their go about their assignments while Spider-Man held back the Commander to inform him of an addition to their group. "It won't be just the two of us this time."

"Why is that?"

Mary Jane jumped in to provide the answer, "Because I'm going with you."

"Are you sure about that?" a stunned Crenshaw asked not knowing his partner's reasoning about bringing Mary Jane along.

"I'm very sure about this and I know of a way that we can best use her talents for this plan."

Both Mary Jane and Commander Crenshaw gave the wallcrawler quizzical looks as the left the bridge having no idea what Spider-Man had in mind.

* * *

With the added numbers to each group, it would not be too difficult for some of them to capture any of Shocker's minions. So far when the Shocker's men had been encountered, they were only in pairs and that would be a major plus for taking them down. As Spider-Man's group continued to their respective deck, they were given word that some of the other teams had encountered Shocker's men and were in the process of apprehending them.

"Are you sure this is going to work?" Crenshaw asked as they arrived on their deck to commence their search.

"Of course it will work and I'll be right with her all the way," answered Spider-Man as he gave Mary Jane a confident pat on the shoulder and then leapt up to cling to the ceiling.

Spider-Man had discussed his plan on the way. It pretty much consisted of Mary Jane being able to lure whoever it was that was watching that particular deck and for her teammates to use the element of surprise to capture Shocker's men with little to no fuss.

The Commander would have to stay back far enough so that he could keep Mary Jane in sight and to help the webslinger when needed. As for Spider-Man, he would be right on top of the situation quite literally since he would be right above her.

Using his spider-sense, Spider-Man pointed them in the direction they should go. It didn't take them long to run into the pair of men that Shocker had guarding the deck.

"Lookee what we got here," a heavy set man said as he approached Mary Jane.

"She sure looks fine, Tiny," the other man mentioned appreciatively.

"You got that right, Mikey. You do know sweet cheeks that you're not supposed to be out roaming the halls."

"I'm sorry, fellas," Mary Jane apologized in a seductive voice. "I was getting bored being all cooped up so I wanted to stretch my legs a little bit."

"And those sure are lovely legs beaut—" Tiny was saying when he was caught off.

"_This is Jenson reporting in, all clear on deck 3. We are now bringing…_" the report came over Crenshaw's radio, which was loud enough for everyone to hear.

"All right, beautiful, what the hell is going on here?" Tiny asked not too politely.

"And you better answer my buddy properly if you know what's good for ya," added Mikey who had grabbed Mary Jane from behind.

"If I were you, I would take my hands off the lady," Spider-Man warned from above.

Both Mikey and Tiny looked up when Spider-Man greeted the larger of the two men with both feet to the big man's chest, knocking him down.

"That's why." Mary Jane gave Mikey an elbow to the gut to get him to let her go. Then, she cupped her hands together and smacked her captor in the jaw.

With both men down, Spider-Man wrapped them up in webbing.

"You both all right? I must've forgotten to turn down my radio. Sorry about that," Crenshaw explained as he came over to them.

Mary Jane and Spider-Man nodded as both him and Crenshaw gathered the two men and began their trek to the make shift prison in the cargo hold.

When they got there, they found out that the other decks had been cleared and that the men were brought in already. Spider-Man and Crenshaw brought their men in and the wallcrawler secured the rest with some webbing. Before leaving, the Commander made sure there were enough men to stand guard and make sure no one would make a break for it.

The trio then headed to the elevator to get back up to the bridge.

"With that now taken care of, there's just one thing left to do," Crenshaw said.

"Yeah and Shocker won't be too happy about what's happened, especially when he sees me," Spider-Man replied as they got off the elevator and went to talk to the Captain.

* * *

**AN:** As always, please feel free to leave review because I would like to hear what you think about this story. Constructive criticism is very welcome but no flames.


	11. Cruise's End

_Cruise's End_

With most of Shocker's men now in custody, it was time to take the fight directly to him. It wasn't going to be easy and Spider-Man knew that especially from his many battles with the Shocker. Also, there were a number of hostages with the vibro-shock throwing villain and their safety was paramount.

The elevator ride back up to the bridge was a quiet one. Spider-Man was lost in thought as he tried to think of a way to get the hostages out of banquet room with little to no interference from Shocker or his men.

"Spider got your tongue?" Mary Jane asked her husband jokingly.

"Huh," was the webhead's reply as if he had just woken up.

"I've never seen you so lost in thought before. This whole thing with Shocker really has you going, doesn't it?"

"That it does."

It was at that time that the elevator doors opened and the trio got off for their final destination. Before they followed Commander Crenshaw, Spider-Man held Mary Jane back to talk to her privately.

"This is a little different type of scheme coming from Shocker, MJ," Peter told her still trying to figure out a way to bring this situation to an end.

"And you think that means he could be more dangerous than ever?" a puzzled Mary Jane questioned.

"Yes and there are a lot of people with him that he can take his frustration out on. Taking that into consideration, we'll have to figure out a way to get the hostages away from Shocker and his men first."

"Do you have anything in mind, sweetheart?"

"I think so and it will take a little luck on our part to pull this thing off."

"Care to share your thoughts, man of mine?"

"I find some way to slip inside and make sure that Commander Crenshaw has some of his security personnel at each exit point of the banquet room. Then, if possible, I'll try to take some of the Shocker's men out of the way so that they won't be able to do anything to the passengers. If not, then I'll have to distract them all long enough for Crenshaw to coordinate a way to get the passengers out of there. Then, it will be just me and whoever is left standing."

"Don't you think that's a little risky on your part, Tiger? Isn't there another way to go about it?"

They both stopped as they were just outside of the ship's bridge. Pulling Mary Jane off to the side while grasping both her hands, Peter continued their conversation. "With my speed, agility and history with Shocker, I can't think of another way to go about this. Plus this new suit will be a huge advantage especially with what it can do."

"I understand. I don't like it – but I understand. At least you'll have some kind of backup with you."

"That I will, sweetheart and I'll be extremely careful. Spider careful in fact."

Peter's last comment got a laugh from MJ and helped alleviate the tension of the situation.

"I know you will, but it doesn't stop me from worrying about you," Mary Jane told him as she gently squeezed his hands.

Peter gave his wife a reassuring hug before they went in to talk to the Captain.

"What kept you?" Commander Crenshaw asked once he finished giving a report on the current state of affairs to Captain Miller.

"Just trying to think up of a plan to end this situation with Shocker as easily as possible without getting anyone hurt," replied Spider-Man, who took a quick glance towards his wife.

Captain Miller asked, "So, do you have something in mind, Spider-Man?"

"I would like to see the layout of the banquet hall with the number of exits and if there are any other ways in."

At the Captain's request, the First Officer went back to the computer to pull up the information that the webslinger required. In moments, FO Marshall had the layout of the banquet hall printed out.

"As you can see, there are two places where you can enter/exit the hall," she pointed out. "Besides those areas, you might be able to access the hall through the ventilation shafts."

"Where would the closest place to the banquet hall be for someone to get into the vents?" Spider-Man asked knowing full well that the closer the better.

First Officer Marshall replaced the banquet hall layout with one of the air vent system, specifically the ones that ran on the same deck as the hall in question.

"As you can see, any of the neighboring rooms could give you access via the vents," Marshall pointed out.

"Hmmmm, I see," Spider-Man noted as he took a good look at the vents layout.

"What are you thinking, webhead?" Commander Crenshaw asked.

"I was thinking that if I could sneak in, snag some or all of Shocker's men and pose as a distraction to the rest, you should be able to get the passengers still inside out of there. Once that is taken care of, I should be able to take care of Shocker without worrying about hurting any innocent bystanders."

The Commander than asked, "Makes perfect sense, but why should you be the one to go in there by yourself?"

"I've faced Shocker on several occasions and have managed to walk away from those encounters not too worse for wear. Also, I'm fast and agile enough to get through the vents and I can take out more than one man at a time with a handy dose of webbing."

"You've got to admit, Commander, Spider-Man states his case for this operation rather well," Captain Miller told his security chief.

"Besides, I need someone like you to get everyone out of Shocker's way as quickly and orderly as possible. Plus, if there are some of his men that I miss, I'll have you and your men to watch my back while I'm taking care of Shocker," explained Spider-Man.

Crenshaw tried to come up with something to argue the webslinger's point but he came up with nothing. He knew deep down that Spider-Man was right and that he was the best person to start things off in the banquet hall.

For the next few minutes, they worked out a plan of attack. They decided that the best place for Spider-Man to enter the banquet hall was from a vent that was behind the stage area. It was the perfect location because the wallcrawler could easily slip in without being seen.

The next part of their plan was the number of men to have at each entrance/exit to the banquet hall. It was decided that there would be two members of the security team placed inside each doorway, which would mean that four security men/women would be inside with Spider-Man. Outside, there would be four security personnel members by each doorway. The teams of six would be responsible for getting the passengers out of the banquet hall in a quick and orderly fashion.

When all the passengers were out, the security officers would provide any kind of backup that Spider-Man might possibly need and to make sure no one would enter or exit the place without going through them.

Now that the plan was mapped out and everyone agreed upon it, it was now time to set things in motion. Commander Crenshaw divided up his security team into the two groups that would man the entryways and he would be leading one of the groups. It was also decided that the team leaders would be able to communicate with each other and Spider-Man over the radio so that everyone could keep their focus on their given tasks.

"I guess we're ready to go. Everyone, take your positions outside the doorways until I say otherwise. I'll show Spider-Man to the vent he can use to get to the stage," Crenshaw ordered his men.

With a resounding, "Yes, sir!" The security personnel went to take up their posts.

"Good luck, gentlemen," Captain Marshall offered to both the Commander and Spider-Man.

"Thanks, Captain, we can use all the luck we can get," replied Spider-Man as he prepared to leave with bridge with the Commander.

Before they left the bridge, Commander Crenshaw asked this question of the webslinger, "What will be the word for me and my med to enter the hall?"

Spider-Man thought for a minute and then whispered his answer in the Commander's ear.

"You have got to be kiddin' me!" Crenshaw exclaimed once he heard the webhead's signal.

"What?" Spider-Man asked in a sarcastic tone and just barely containing a laugh.

"Never mind, it's just something you would say, I guess." Crenshaw then left the bridge with Spider-Man right behind.

"Captain, I thought that you should know that the Avengers should be on their way and will join us when they can. If we haven't informed you of our situation by the time they arrive, just let them know where we are," Spider-Man told Captain Miller.

"I will," the Captain assured.

As he headed off the bridge, Spider-Man passed Mary Jane. She mouthed the words, 'take care' and was able to snatch his hand for a gentle squeeze. Peter answered back with a squeeze of his own and nodded to let her know that he would be careful. With that, he followed right behind the Commander.

"Here we are, Spider-Man," Crenshaw said once they arrived at the ventilation shaft that the wallcrawler was to use. "Good luck."

"You too," he told the Commander as he popped the vent grate off and slipped inside.

* * *

The passengers in the banquet hall were still frightened by what Shocker could do to them. They weren't cowering or anything, but they tried to remain as calm as possible and made sure to stay on the good side of their captor.

"The boss sure is running a tight ship, ain't he, Jono?" asked one of Shocker's four men in the banquet hall.

"Ya got that right, Turk. The dough should be in his Swiss account any minute now and then we'll get our cut of this little operation," replied Jono as he rubbed his hands together in anticipation of receiving his payment.

* * *

_Thank goodness I haven't put on any weight or else this little jaunt of mine wouldn't be far_, Spider-Man thought as he made his way through the vent. The shaft wasn't that tight but it wasn't overly big either. Fortunately, his spider-like abilities happened to make crawling though the shaft not as difficult as one would have thought.

It didn't take the wallcrawler long to get to the proverbial _end of the line_. Before he removed the vent grate, he took a brief look around to make sure he was in the right place.

"This looks like the right spot the First Officer talked about, might as well slip in," Spider-Man said as he quietly popped off the vent grate.

"Did you hear something, Turk?" asked a puzzled Jono.

"Not a thing," his partner replied. "Why?"

"I thought I heard something is all."

"You sure you heard something, Jono?"

"Yes, I'm sure!"

"All right, all right, don't get your knickers in a twist. Let's check it out, then."

The duo were not far from where Jono had supposedly heard the noise, the stage.

"It doesn't look like anything is out of the ordinary around here," Turk informed his friend as he took a look around.

"Let's check behind stage, just to be sure," Jono suggested.

Turk nodded in agreement as they climbed the stage steps to look around back. It was fairly dark back there and without a light switch nearby, Jono took out his Zippo lighter to use as a make-shift light source.

THWIP!! THWIP!!

"Jono!" Turk yelled out before everything went suddenly quiet.

"Where are ya, buddy?" asked Jono as he waved his lighter around trying to find his partner. Unfortunately, Turk was nowhere to be seen. "Come on, Turk. Quit fooling around here. You know the boss doesn't like this kind of thing."

THWIP!! THWIP!!

"I've got a bad feeling about—" was all Jono could say as he was taken off his feet to be hung upside down, a few feet about the backstage floor. "This isn't very funny."

"It wasn't meant to be," a not too far off voice mentioned.

"Who, what and where are you?" questioned Jono as he swayed back and forth.

"Oh, it's just your friendly vacationing Spider-Man who has a few questions for you," the wallcrawler told him face to face as he too hung upside down from a strand of webbing.

"Nuh uh, I ain't saying a single word to ya."

"Suit yourself."

Spider-Man extended his arm and started to spin his adversary around and around. When Jono had finished spinning in the one direction, he quickly spun around in the other.

After several minutes of spinning in either direction, Jono finally had enough. "All right, all right, I'll talk – just stop this crazy thing before I puke my guts out!"

"If you say so, chuckles," replied Spider-Man with a slight laugh before he stopped the spinning.

Now that he was stationary again, Jono took a second before asking, "What do you want to know?"

"How many men does Shocker have out there besides you and your friend?"

"Just a couple of other guys and that's it. The rest are out on all the decks to make sure people stay where they are."

"Excellent," Spider-Man said in his best Mr. Burns imitation. "But those bozos that aren't here have already been taken care of. Just like you."

"There's no way you could've done that."

"No, but I had some help from the ships crew. Now, you are going to provide me with some as well." Before Jono could reply, Spider-Man activated his radio inside his mask. "Commander, there are only two of Shocker's men left to take care of. Right now, I got two more to handle."

"_All right, we'll await your signal to clear out the passengers_," Crenshaw replied.

Spider-Man ended their conversation with, "We'll be in touch." He then returned his attention back to his upside down adversary.

"There's no way I'm going to help you," Jono spat out as he once again tried to free himself by wiggling around.

"Uh, yes you are."

Spider-Man spun a web and was immediately above Jono. He then cut the web line that held the caught man with one of the waldoes. Jono fell down with a resounding thud.

"Oops, it seems that I am a bit of a butterfingers," the wallcrawler said as he came back down.

"All right, all right, I guess I don't have any other choice, do I?" a sluggish Jono asked.

"Nope."

Spider-Man picked him up and prepared to lure the two remaining men over towards them.

"So, what's your plan going to be?"

"First, I'll do this," Spider-Man covered Jono's mouth with webbing to keep him quiet and then led him over to where the stage curtain was.

"Did you see where Turk and Jono disappeared to?" one of Shocker's men questioned.

"I don't know," his associate began, "maybe they were told to… take a look over at the stage. They must've found something because it looks like one of them is waving us over. Let's check it out."

So the pair went up to the stage and looked around back.

"Turk, Jono, where are guys?" one of the men asked, slightly annoyed.

"You guys better not be kiddin' around, the boss won't put up with this," the other one stated.

"Your friends are a little _tied_ up at the moment but don't worry about that, you're about to join them," a voice explained to them from above.

"What the…" was all one of them got out when they were both pulled up by strands of webbing.

"I guess that webs things up," a triumphant Spider-Man chuckled out as he webbed Shocker's remaining men up and placed them securely with the other two. "Now, it's your turn, Shocker."

* * *

"Where in the hell is everyone?" Shocker asked himself as he returned from a restroom break finding none of his men to be seen.

"They're all a little busy at the moment… but maybe I'll do," Spider-Man told his long time foe as he swung in and slammed his feet into Shocker's chest, sending him flying and passengers scurrying out of the way.

Spider-Man turned on his mask-radio again as he kept an eye on Shocker. "Crenshaw, be prepared to get the passengers out of here. I've just got the big bad guy here to tangle with."

"_Fine, webhead, we'll be standing by_," Crenshaw answered him.

"You are going to pay for that you son of a…" Shocker threatened as he shook off the blow.

"Tsk, tsk, tsk. You really do have a potty mouth don't you, Shockey? Maybe a little webbing will solve that," Spider-Man informed him as he fired some webbing at Shocker's mouth.

Luckily, Shocker activated one of his vibro-shock gauntlets and was able to disintegrate the webbing before it got close to him.

"Well, well, well. If it isn't my old pal, Spider-Man. Got tired of the old red and blue long johns, wallcrawler?" questioned Shocker as he fired a pair of vibro-shock waves at his enemy.

Spider-Man easily dodged the blasts with a couple of flips and landed on a nearby wall.

"They were a gift and you know how I hate to refuse presents. Here's something I want to give you, Shockhead."

Spider-Man fired several web balls at Shocker to try to throw him off balance. It did to some extent but Shocker used his gauntlets to take care of most of the wallcrawler's web balls.

_I got his full attention now_, Spider-Man thought as he weaved and ducked from his foes attacks. _Time to start getting these passengers out of here_.

"Geez, Shocker, what's with you? I thought you would've come closer to tagging me by now," Spider-Man taunted as he hung upside down from a web, several feet away.

"Okay, webslinger, you and your big fat trap asked for it," bellowed Shocker as he upped the intensity of the shock waves.

Dodging the attacks again, Spider-Man also had to make sure that some of the Shocker's blasts didn't find there way towards the passengers. He quickly built some web barriers to separate the battle and the innocent bystanders and it also provided them cover for when they leave the hall.

"Getting better there, Shockster, but you could do better," Spider-Man taunted again and started to lead his adversary away from both exits. "Here, Shocky, Shocky, Shocky. Come here, boy." He ended his last comment with a summoning whistle.

"That's the signal, let's move and get everyone out of there!" Commander Crenshaw informed both his team and the other one.

"You rotten little bug, you'll pay for that!!" Shocker shouted as he upped the intensity of his blasts again.

"For crying out loud, Shocker, I'm an arachnid, not an insect. Can't get that through your thick…" Spider-Man explained as he narrowly avoided a vibro-shock blast.

Between blasts, the webslinger noticed that Crenshaw and his teams were busy clearing out the passengers. He then spun some webbing to protect them like he did with the barriers that were created earlier.

Shocker saw what was going on so he started blasting away at the webbing.

"Crenshaw, you better speed things up a bit. Shocker is getting a little perturbed at seeing his bargaining chips vacating the place," Spider-Man warned as he prepared to get Shocker's focus back on him.

"_We're almost most done, webhead. How are things on your end?_" Crenshaw asked as he continued to usher people to safety.

"Could be better… Oomph," replied Spider-Man while dodging a blast and getting clipped by another which sent him crashing through a table. He staggered slightly to his feet, snagged the splintered table pieces with a couple of webs and flung them at Shocker. "Just speed things up a bit because Shocker is really letting loose now."

"_We'll do what we can. I'll let you know when everyone is out._"

"Thanks, Crenshaw. You better tell the captain that his banquet hall is really going to be a mess when this is over."

That brought out a chuckle from the Commander as he renewed his efforts to get everyone out of the hall at a quicker pace.

Once his conversation with Commander Crenshaw ended, Spider-Man renewed his focus on Shocker with some well placed webbing at Shocker's feet while he obliterated the table shards that the webslinger had thrown at him.

"I can take anything you can throw at me, Spider-Man and give twice as much back," Shocker told his enemy and then he noticed that his feet were now covered in webbing thus holding him in place. "You should know this won't hold me for long."

"Here's boots in your eye, Shocky!" exclaimed Spider-Man as his opponent got a face full of Spidey's feet sending Shocker through several surrounding tables and chairs.

But as he was sent flying, Shocker was able to get a couple of vibro-shock blasts off. Even though his spider-sense warned him of the impending danger, the blasts were too fast for Spider-Man to avoid and therefore he got hammered by them.

_That didn't hurt as much as I thought it would_, Spider-Man cogitated as he picked himself up from the punishment he just received. _Tony really knows how to put a suit together_.

Shocker, on the other hand, was a little slower getting up. The shot to the face rattled some of his teeth but his costume did absorb some of the impact. _Damn, stinking, wallcrawling freak_, he thought as he upped the intensity of his vibro-shock blasts to their maximum setting. _Let's see you walk away from that, wallcrawler_.

"_All the passengers are out, Spider-Man_," Crenshaw informed the hero.

"That's music to my ears, Commander. Now I can take Shocker down without hurting anyone. Make sure none of your men are still inside because things could get… nasty in here," Spider-Man stated as he avoided Shocker's blast.

"_I've heard what you mean. All my men are out now and give that Shocker creep what for._"

"I'll do just that and let you know when things are back to normal."

"You ready for a pounding, webhead?" Shocker warned, gauntlets at the ready.

Spider-Man answered him with a question, "It's always with the violence with you, isn't it?"

Shocker didn't reply with words but with a volley of vibro-shock blasts.

The wallcrawler did his best to avoid the blasts but he got tagged by a couple which sent him flying through tables, chairs and anything else that happened to be in the way including the hall wall.

_That didn't hurt, much_, Spider-Man ruminated as he extricated himself out of the wall just before Shocker continued his onslaught. _Now it's time to up my game and end it._

Keeping ahead of his foe's attacks by using his trusty spider-sense, the webslinger again snagged various pieces of debris. When he had got enough, he began tossing everything he placed a web strand on.

Now it was Shocker's turn to go on the defensive as he fired off some blasts and dodged what came at him. Unfortunately, he didn't have his opponent's agility and Shocker got hit twice as much as he dodged/blasted debris. He was able to get a few more blasts out to deflect debris when he got sandwiched between a couple of tables bringing him to his knees.

"Now that almost wraps things up," Spider-Man said as he webbed up Shocker's legs. Then grabbing his adversary by both hands and giving them a crushing squeeze, Spider-Man destroyed the vibro-shock gauntlets. Finally, he webbed Shocker up some more and placed him on one of the few chairs that was left unscathed. "Now don't worry, Shockster, you won't be left here all by your lonesome."

Spider-Man went up behind the stage area and brought out the guys he had webbed up earlier. He gave each of them their own seat around one of the still standing tables.

With everything now taken care of, the webslinger pulled up a chair for himself and plopped on it glad that things were now over. He just propped his feet up on the table when the banquet hall doors were opened and several familiar people came in.

"I guess you don't need our help now, do you?" Captain America asked as Iron Man, Luke Cage and Commander Crenshaw came in, followed by Crenshaw's men.

Spider-Man, in typical fashion replied, "Piece of cake… but what took you guys so long? I could've used your help earlier."

* * *

Spider-Man and his fellow Avengers stayed with the cruise ship until it reached port. Once there, they were greeted by several agents of SHIELD who took custody of Shocker and his men. The SHIELD agents also took the disarmed bombs to dispose of them.

Captain Miller publicly thanked Spider-Man for his efforts in foiling Shocker's extortion plot. Several other officers from the cruise ship thanked the wallcrawler as well as several of the passengers. This made Peter feel good about what he accomplished and that he was able to live up to his responsibility of being Spider-Man.

When he finally had some time to himself, Peter was able to get out of his Iron Spider costume and meet up with Mary Jane who was very happy to see him especially in one piece. He needed to spend some quality time with his wife and left the mopping up to his Avengers teammates.

* * *

_Stark Tower_

"There's no place like home," stated a tired Peter as he and Mary Jane entered the living quarters of Stark Tower.

"Amen to that, Tiger," replied Mary Jane who joined Peter on a nearby couch.

"I'll go put your suitcases in your room," Jarvis told the tired-looking pair.

"Thanks, Jarvis and not just for the suitcases but getting word to the rest of the Avengers," conveyed Peter appreciatively.

"You're very welcome."

As Jarvis exited, Aunt May then entered the room and immediately gave her nephew and niece-in-law a warm hug in welcoming them back.

"I am very relieved that you both made it back in one piece," May expressed to them knowing full well what had happened on their cruise.

"So are we and it was a good idea for Peter to bring his costume with him," stated Mary Jane, very proud of what her husband had done on the cruise ship.

"Just like American Express, I never leave home without it," Peter joked which was followed by laughter from all three Parkers.

"I'll just leave you two to rest up after your harrowing experience but I'll be back with some of Edwin's lemonade," May told them as she went out to the kitchen.

"Thanks, Aunt May," Peter said as he rested his head on MJ's shoulder. "You know, I think I need a vacation to recuperate from our vacation."

"That sounds like a wonderful idea, sweetheart," Mary Jane replied as she rested her head next to Peter's. "How does Hawaii sound?"

"Not bad but how could we swing that?"

"Well, we do have those complimentary tickets the cruise line gave us for what happened and they do have a cruise to Hawaii…"

All Peter could do was groan irritably thinking that he had had enough of cruises for the rest of his life.

**The End**

* * *

**AN:** I hope you've enjoyed this story as much as I did. Please leave a review because I really would like to hear what you thought. Constructive criticism is always welcome but no flames.


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